More Than Bread

Send me a Text Message!What are you filled with?  What fills your life, right now?  We can be filled with a lot of stuff, good and bad. What are you filled with today? In John 14-17, Jesus begins to talk about the Spirit of God. If you remember back in John 7, he talked about the Spirit of God so filling us up that rivers of living water flow out of our souls! It's an uncommon call to be filled with the Spirit.  We may not exactly be sure what it means. But we do know what it's like to be filled with something. If someone says they are filled with grief, or filled with fear, or despair or anger or ambition or joy, or filled with love. We know what that's like.  We know that what we are filled with dominates our thoughts, dictates our actions, perhaps even describes who we are. So what fills you up?

Send me a Text Message!John 14-16 is an amazing piece of scripture. Jesus is sharing his last thoughts before he dies on a cross, and changes the story of the world. It's his locker-room talk before his team goes out to play the most important game of their lives. And he is talking to them about life, about what they need to thrive in the hard times to come. In the space of a few minutes, he will use the word "remain" at least 8 times. That's the word that I want us to hang onto. "Remain" or some of your translations say "abide." The greek word translated remain can mean to take a stand against difficult circumstances, but it was also used to refer to close personal relationships. So maybe the sense of the word is to stick close even when it's difficult.  When trouble comes, stick close to Jesus. When it's hard to hope, stick close to Jesus. When you want your life to make a difference, stick close to Jesus!

Send me a Text Message!As you know I'm kind of stuck in John 14-17. Which isn't a bad thing at all, if you took my advice and have been reading those four chapters every day, maybe even multiple times a day. So in the last episode, I ended with this thought. I didn't develop it much, but I threw it out there at the end, the thought was simply this, "If hope is contagious, love is how it spreads." If hope is contagious, love is how it spreads, so if we want to spread hope, we might need a love breakthrough!In this episode, we'll touch a bit more on the relationships that Jesus touches on in John 14-17. Each relationship is a place where we can pray for breakthrough!

Send me a Text Message!Remember in a recent episode, talking about prayer, I said that while helplessness is a great initiator of prayer, helplessness is not enough. We need hopefulness to sustain prayer. But when our helplessness meets His hopefulness, something pretty amazing can happen. So I want to talk a bit again about that hopefulness. And here is the statement that I'm going to make... Hope is contagious!I'm praying that contagious hope fills every heart that listens to this episode!

Send me a Text Message!What is peace? In our culture today, we typically define peace in terms of absence. It's the absence of noise, the absence of storms, the absence of conflict and anxiety. But when Jesus spoke of peace, he used the Hebrew word, shalom. Shalom is fullness and wholeness, not absence. Shalom is well-being in the widest sense of the word. It's the blessing of God which sums up all other blessings. Shalom is more about fullness than emptiness, more about presence than  absence. Shalom is the wholeness of heart that comes from a fullness of God.Are you seeking peace?

Send me a Text Message!Expectancy is a tenacious hope that never stops believing that the best is yet to come. In this episode we will hear Jesus tie together expectancy, child-birth, and travailing prayer. Travailing prayer is the painful work of giving birth to something new. The Bible seems to speak little of casual prayer. It's pages are filled with examples of people who wrestled with God, travailed, groaned and cried out in prayer to see God's purposes birthed in their lives and the world around them.So I have to ask you, the same questions, I ask myself. Who are the people in our day who will pray like this? Where are the next gen students who will travail in prayer until God births something new in their school? Where are the neighbors who will let expectancy saturate their trouble so that they cannot help but travail in prayer? Where are the employees who will push in prayer till God births smthng new in their company? Where are the travailing mothers and fathers, the grandmas and grandpas, who will not let God rest till the Spirit gives birth to a new season in their family? It's time to travail...

Send me a Text Message!It would probably be a good thing for you to read on your own all of John 14-17 multiple times as you listen to the next 5-6 episodes. These four chapters are Jesus last words before he gives his life for a world in trouble. So imagine this, you're with Jesus, sitting by a fire in a cabin, or talking a walk in the afternoon. You're walking through a vineyard and you don't know it but Jesus is sharing his last words before he dies on a cross. Most scholars call these four chapters, Jesus "Farewell Discourse." I think it's anything but his farewell discourse. These are not last words, they are beginning words; summation words maybe, transition words definitely, but not last words.This is Jesus locker-room challenge before you go out and play the most important game of your life. This is your favorite teacher at commencement looking you in the eye and saying, "You got this." It's your OBGYN doctor, saying, "push, it's time to push. I know it hurts, but something good is coming."I hope these next few episodes covering John 14-17, truly encourage you!

Send me a Text Message!In our culture today, Christians are known by and known for a handful of things, to be honest to many of those things are not good things. We are known for our politics. We are known for our moral stands on issues that matter to us. But are we known for the way we love each other? What are we known for?

Send me a Text Message!It was just before the Passover Feast.  Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father.  He knew that all power had been given to Him, so he decided to show his disciples the full extent of his love, show them that he loved them to the very end.  Just stop for a moment and think about that. He is about to show his followers, the full extent of his love.  What is the full extent of your love?  How far does your love go? Jesus...is about to show his followers the full extent, the full measure, he's going all the way, holding nothing back; the  heights and depths of the love of Jesus is about to go center stage.  What do you suppose the full extent of Jesus' love looks like? That's what we find in John 13.    Jesus...is about to show his followers the full extent, the   full measure, he's going all the way, holding nothing   back...the heights and depths of the love of Jesus is

Send me a Text Message!We've been settling for the false finish lines of comfort and control. We've been settling for false finish lines of politics and the economy. I have no faith in politics to bring us glory. That's not our finish line. In fact, filling up church buildings on a Sunday morning is a false finish line.  But I have found over and over again, that it's difficult, if not impossible to lean into new things without being done with the old things. So my question is  Are we done with the old things?  Are we ready to run to the true goal, the finish line of Christ?I long to see the church shine bright like a city on a hill. I long for us to be known as the hands & heart of Christ. I still believe that the church that Jesus is building is the hope of the world. I want to be part of that church. But to be that church some old things need to die and get planted. What in you needs to die and get planted?   praying for that church to be done with old things. What if God wants to do a new thing in our day, but he's just waiting for us to give up some old things?

Send me a Text Message!John 12 is all about love-bursts. Mary had a love-burst, heart full for Jesus. We introduced that in the last episode. She left the table,...and got a small bottle out of her basket. It was full of a very valuable fragrant oil, worth a year's wages. What would that be for you? Put your number on it. Imagine pouring that out. She walks over to Jesus and uncorks the bottle. By now she has everyone's attention, they know what it is. She pours it out. Over his head and shoulders, his feet. And then she wipes off his feet with her hair. This was the crazy generosity of a love-burst. The disciples thought it was too much. When is the last time you were crazy generous like that? The crazy generosity of a love-burst!

Send me a Text Message!John 12 starts on the Saturday before Palm Sunday. Jesus is at Lazarus' house. Yep same Lazarus that was recently dead, now living life large. Jesus is there and I'm telling you everyone wants to see Jesus, everyone wants to be on team Jesus. The crowds are going hard after Jesus. The next day is Palm Sunday, the processional of King Jesus into Jerusalem. The crowds continue to grow. But at the heart of the Saturday before Palm Sunday is the love-burst of Mary...for Jesus. For 2000+ years this story has been told. It's how Mary is remembered? It makes me wonder how I will be remembered. Have you ever had a love-burst?

Send me a Text Message!In John 11, we get a whole new picture of Jesus. We see Jesus, standing near the tomb of his friend, pain and grief cascading over him.  It's not simply the death of his friend that he rails against, it is the hand behind death. It is the power behind evil, this death symbolizes the accumulation of all that is wrong in the world.  Evil, pain, sorrow and suffering, hopelessness, despair, injustice, cruelty, loneliness, and sin. He weeps for his friends, but he is deeply moved by the outrageous  abnormality of what has become normal.  As he turns to the tomb, Christ comes face to face with messed up stuff that Father God never intended his children to face when he created us and called it good. He is stirred up in His spirit and shows his face as our champion!

Send me a Text Message!Isn't there something in each of us that wants to believe that our stories matter? Sometimes we call that hope. We want to believe that we are living a good story, or perhaps even better yet, we want to believe that we are part of a good story. Yet, there are chapters where it seems like we are stuck in a bad news story. Right? In our culture today, we talk more than a bit about the good life. I live in Happy Valley. How could I live anything but the good life in a place called Happy Valley? But even in Happy Valley, we have bad news stories, right?There is a question that Jesus asks in this story. The question first to Martha is simply, "Do you believe?" You understand the resurrection is not just something to believe in, it is someone to believe. What do you believe?

Send me a Text Message!In this series, “The Jesus Way" we are Listening to, learning from and leaning into the gospel of John; to get a better picture of what it looks like to be a Jesus-apprentice. And in this episode, we are finishing John chapter 10. But like the last episode, I'm going to start in John 10 but then wander a bit, all the way back to the Psalm 23. Why Psalm 23? Because there is a lot in John 10, about spiritual battle  and a lot about Jesus being our great Shepherd. John 10 contains another one of Jesus “I am” statements. I am the great Shepherd.And as I was reading John 10 through again, I kept thinking of Psalm 23, which is all about sheep, shepherds, and a crazy battle plan.

Send me a Text Message!The first problem we have in discovering our identity is that we simply don't know his voice. As my friend Terry says, "We need to develop voice recognition, because we don't recognize his voice." The problem is that we've let so many other voices into our souls.  We let the voices that shout lies into our hearts and miss the voice that whispers truth. Ultimately our identity is shaped by the direction of our ears. So in this episode we'll start in John 10, but we'll spend a little bit of time in Mark 4, where Jesus tells a story about listening and the power of listening to give us a life of great impact. If you want a life of 100x impact, you need to get good at listening for His voice!

Send me a Text Message!John of Kronstadt was a 19th-century Russian Orthodox priest at a time when  alcohol abuse was rampant. None of the priests ventured out of their churches to help the people. But John, compelled by love, went out into the streets. People said he would lift the hungover, foul-smelling people from the gutter, cradle them in his arms, and say to them, "This is beneath your dignity. You were meant to house the fullness of God." You were meant to house the fullness of God but somehow, somewhere along the way they either never knew or they lost their identity. They had lost sight of who they were.Who am I? Am I what I do? Am I what I wear? Am I how I fail? Am I what I achieve? Am I who you say I am? No really, who am I? That's the question for this episode.

Send me a Text Message!At the end of the last episode, I said that our vision is shaped by the stories we hear and even more so, that stories we rehearse. Remember I asked, "What stories do you tell and what stories do you hear?" In this episode, I will share four stories that shape our sight. These four stories are not just run of the mill common narratives. These are four stories about Jesus that have the power to change our life. I don't know which story you have landed on, but perhaps you will find yourself or one of your friends who is stuck somewhere before the fourth story.I'm praying that we all make it to #4!

Send me a Text Message!If we want to live our one and only life in an uncommon way, we must gain uncommon sight. We need to be able to see what is truly real. We need spiritual sight. So ask yourself the question, "Where am I missing the uncommon sights that lead to an uncommon life because I'm living life blind? Nobody had, nobody has better vision than Jesus. When he looked at people, he saw the mess, but he also saw the glory. He saw the effects of sin, but he also saw the work of God. Jesus had amazing eyes and uncommon vision. John 9 gives us an example of that. This is one of those seven miraculous signs that reveal something about the heart and power of God and it makes me say, "I want to see like Jesus sees!"

Send me a Text Message!In our teaching series at Calvary, we've been making our way through four  different portraits or roles of a Jesus-Apprentice. The first portrait was Beloved Masterpiece. You are what God does. You are deeply loved and shaped by God to be like Jesus, and He's preparing you to do good stuff, make a difference. Secondly we are called to be courageous leaders. Courageous leaders are those who love others more than self. They are more in interested in developing people  than merely achieving tasks. The third portrait was the bridge-builder. My  goodness how our world needs humble people willing to be walked on from both sides in order to close the gap, with a sacrificial heart. The fourth portrait is the front-yard missionaries. We are on a mission to love our neighbors all the way to life, all the way to Jesus! That's what this episode is all about!

Send me a Text Message!For the last few days, about 70 participants and 30+ coaches, speakers, and leaders have been advancing their leadership, uncovering their calling, while discovering who God is shaping them to be. One of key verses has been Ephesians 2:10, "For we are God's masterpiece created in Christ to do the good works that he has prepared in advance for us to do." Now I love that truth that we are not what we do, we are what He is doing. We are God's masterpiece. He's shaping us to be like Jesus so that we can do the good works He's prepared in advance forus to do. He's preparing us, uniquely shaping us. But he's also preparing good works for us to do. In other words, God is uniquely shaping us to make a unique difference in the world.That unique shaping to make a unique difference is called "our calling." Each of us is called. I am called. But in this episode, I want to talk about our...  FIRST CALLING. Our first calling is not just first in time, but first in priority, because it's the calling that reminds us that if there is a calling...there's a caller. And for us the caller is everything. This episode is for anyone, but especially those who went through Leadership Advance with me this year. It's the talk that was in the books, that I didn't give. 

Send me a Text Message!In this episode we will hear Jesus say, "If you abide in my word, you will know the truth and the truth will set you free."  If you dwell in, and get connected to my word; if you let your soul saturate in my word, you are truly my disciples. You can't be an apprentice of Jesus if you don't live in his Word; the words of the WORD.I don't think I've noticed before how almost every chapter, John in his words or Jesus in his words and his example bring us back to the importance of the words of God. We need more than bread to thrive. We need every word that comes from the mouth of God. Right?  We need to listen, learn and lean in. It starts with listening, but if that's where it ends, we're lost.It's not enough to listen, we need to lean in!

Send me a Text Message!We live in a world filled with darkness. And into this world of darkness Jesus came. In John 8:12 Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, "I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won't have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life." Like the worship song sings, "There is a light, his name is Jesus. He's the light of the world. But here's the amazing thing. Don't miss this thing. Of all Jesus' I am statements, six of them only apply to him. There's only one "I am" statement where Jesus says, and so are you.  He says, "I am the light of the world. And so are you." Jesus is the light of the world, and so are you!

Send me a Text Message!In this episode, I'm going to talk about the beauty of the sound of dropping stones. You will hear it, in your heart, as you listen to this episode, the sound of dropping stones. Did you know that you can recognize by a sound, whether or not you are following Jesus?  Do you know what sound you hear when you start living and  loving and becoming like Jesus?  It's the sound of stones dropping.I used to have this rock that I kept in my office. It was large enough to write on it the words, "first stone."  It was a reminder to me of the fact that I can't throw stones at people who have blown it, if I don't want stones thrown at me when I blow it.  And when I blow it, when I make those choices I wish I could undo, I so love to hear the sound of stones dropping.

Send me a Text Message!Who are your untouchables? We spent a couple of weeks at Calvary talking about being bridge-builders. I think one of the most vital gaps we need to bridge today is the gap between you and whoever your untouchables are because we still haveuntouchables today, don't we? How long has it been since you went out of your way to be around the friend who betrayed you?  Has she become untouchable? If someone invited you to go with them to do prison ministry, would you go?  Would you sit and talk, share the good news of forgiveness to a child molester? What about those on the other side of whatever political divide is your gap?See the word "judgement" goes with the word "untouchable."  In fact the greek word for judgement literally means to seperate.  To be judgmental is to seperate, divide and condemn. It's all about building walls instead of bridges. So who are your untouchables?

Send me a Text Message!This is a long one. But I think worth it. It's a conversation that I'm having with Harold Mckenzie, who recently retired from the lead pastor role at Unity Church. Pastor Mac is one of the best bridge-builders I know. He has bridged racial gaps, cultural gaps, community gaps, church gaps, and more. If you want a little mentoring on being a reconciler, a bridge-builder, I can't think of anyone better than Harold. Settle in and listen with your heart and mind open! 

Send me a Text Message!We are going to hear Jesus say (again), "If you believe in me rivers of living water will flow out from within you." I want to suggest that when rivers of living water flow out of us, we can't help but be generous with Jesus. Being generous with your time, that's cool. Being generous with your finances, I hope you are. Being generous with forgiveness, we'll be in a prison of bitterness if we don't. But what could be better than being generous with Jesus?But I'm not talking about giving something to Jesus. I'm talking about giving Jesus to others. God has an unlimited capacity to give, but we have a limited capacity to receive. God has an unlimited capacity to give us Jesus but we have a limited capacity to receive, so if want more of Jesus, we need to share Jesus with others. We need to let the rivers of living water flow. Let's be generous with Jesus!

Send me a Text Message!The Jesus Way is not just about finding something that will satisfy the dryness of my soul it's about finding something that will so fill me up that I overflow with life.  I can't help but give life away! In fact, few things get us closer to the life we want to get than giving away the life that we have. Don't we all want to get a life? That's why we're here. In fact, that's why Jesus came. In John 10:10, Jesus said, "I came so that you could have abundant life." So the Bible seems to suggest that there are different levels of life. This episode will look at a few of those different levels, but the one I'm aiming for is when I have so much life that life overflows from me into the people around me. Ask yourself, "Does my life overflow with life?"

Send me a Text Message!In John 7, we find that the people in Jesus day were really, really confused about who Jesus was, what he was doing, where he came from, and why. Was he the son of God or the son of a carpenter? Was he from Nazareth or someplace way out there? Was he an amazing teacher or a wanna-be rabbi? Most importantly was he, or could I say, "Is He the Messiah?" Is He the one? And if He is the one, is He my #1? And if not...why not?

Send me a Text Message!Jesus is more than enough. I'm not saying that he has more than enough or even that he can do more than enough. I'm saying that in and of himself, by himself, he is more than enough. He is more than enough to satisfy every hunger and give life to every hope. He is more than enough to not only forgive but help you to thrive in the midst of the hard. He is more than enough.In the gospel of John there are seven "I am" statements from Jesus. This one is "I am the bread of life." Is Jesus where you go, when you need life?

Send me a Text Message!This is another one of our Jesus-Way messages from our 50 Day apprenticing Jesus-journey. This was not an easy one. But I think it's an important one. If you already listened, a second time might not hurt. The role and mission of the bridge-builder is woven throughout scripture. It was on Jesus' heart when he called us to love each other, love our neighbors, and...even love our enemies! And there is no better, more important bridge building moment, than the cross. So I hope you find value in the message!Because our world desperately needs bridge-builders!

Send me a Text Message!In John 5, at the end of the chapter, there's a confrontation between Jesus and the religious leaders of his day. These leaders were scripture experts. They knew it. They memorized it. They carried it with them everywhere they went. They prided themselves on being scripture experts. But they were missing the glorious goal of scripture. What is the glorious goal of scripture? That's what this episode is all about. But let me simply say this,  knowledge of God was not the same as knowing God; loving the scriptures is not the same as loving God; reading God's words is not the same as listening to God. What is the glorious goal of scripture? Encountering the WORD.

Send me a Text Message!In today's episode, we will hear Jesus ask a man, what we might think is the world's dumbest question. Take it easy, I'm not saying that Jesus asked dumb questions. But at first glance, it seems like it. He asks a man who has been an invalid for 38 years, if he wants to be made well. It's a seemingly outrageous question right? Except sometimes it needs to be asked. Sometimes we've gotten used to our brokenness. We become friends with our hopelessness. It becomes part of our identity. So do you want to be made well?Perhaps it's time to say yes.

Send me a Text Message!In the last part of John 4, we find a story. I'm calling it a "seventh hour" story. It's a story of Jesus healing a man's dying son, with just a word, from long distance. The healing took place at the seventh hour. And I imagine that forever after when this family would rehearse God's faithfulness they would share their seventh hour story. A time when God came through even before they knew He came through. A time when they were given a word from Jesus and they responded. So just ask yourself, "what's my seventh hour story?" If I don't have one, perhaps it's because I haven't responded to His Word?

Send me a Text Message!Before we jump into the miracle of John 4, Jesus' second sign. I just want to make sure we understand the connection between Jesus and the Word. This connection goes beyond metaphor into the land of mystical.  It goes beyond symbolic into the land of supernatural.  There is this connection between Jesus, who is called the Word, and the Word which we call our Bible. So everytime we open this book it can be like sitting down with Jesus, no matter what page we are on.  So here's what I want you to do for just a few moments, even before you listen, I want you to picture yourself, with Jesus, wherever you would be the most at ease, walking by a stream in the forest.  Catching up over a grande coffee. And I want you to imagine, listening to, learning from and leaning into... HIS WORDS!And then you gotta listen to me. Sorry! :)

Send me a Text Message!Our teaching series at Calvary is unpacking four portraits of a Jesus-apprentice. This episode is my message on courageous leaders. When we love someone more than we love ourselves we do courageous stuff. Courage isn't the absence of fear, it's the presence of heart. And if we define leadership as bossing the best, or even accomplishing the most, we may be settling for false finish lines. Bottom line, our world today needs courageous leadership...and you, every you listening can be a courageous leader!

Send me a Text Message!John 4 contains an amazing story full of life-giving themes. It's all about soul-thirst and the hunger of our hearts to live for a worthy mission. It's all about city-revivals and turning the world upside down. It's all about worship and Jesus' mission to find people who will truly worship him.And it's all about sharing the treasure of Jesus with people living in the margins of life. Who might you share that treasure with in the coming days?

Send me a Text Message!In John 4, we find a story of something Jesus "had to do." What is your "have-to-do?" The greek word translated as "had to" is often a word that signifies a divine necessity. Perhaps it was a divine necessity for Jesus to go through Samaria. God had a divine appointment set up for Jesus with a woman in Samaria. So here's the deal. Our story is shaped by our have-to. What I have to do defines me. Jesus was defined by the have-to of Father God. The heart of the Father compelled him to compassion and because of love, he had to share the gospel, the good news. So ask yourself, "What is my have-to?"

Send me a Text Message!Jackie Hill Perry says this about Jesus, “He is so much greater than the greatest thing and so much more glorious than the most glorious glory the eyes could see. Knowing this, He becomes the aim of all our doing.” He is so much greater. As we finish up John 3, the words give us an opportunity to simply ponder the greatness of Jesus and ask (and maybe even answer) the question, "Jesus are you the one?"Because if the answer is yes. I can't think of a more important question to answer. Because if he really is the one, if he really is who he claimed to be, then he is the single most significant person who ever lived (and still lives)! He is preeminent in everything.

Send me a Text Message!John 3:16 is probably the most famous verse in scripture. And not only is it famous, it's great! It gives a one-sentence tweetable summary of the good news that leads to a great life on the Jesus way. It's the beginning of our journey on the way of Jesus, the very beginning. And what is at the beginning? God's love. Like I said in the last episode, "you are God's beloved masterpiece." And few short verses describe the love part of beloved masterpiece, than John 3:16.You are relentlessly pursued by a lavishly gracious God who is all-in on you. And just so  you don't miss it. You aren't the only one. In fact, you probably have an enemy or two, who is loved like that by God, as well. I needed to hear that! Who knows what you might discover in this greatest, most famous verse?

Send me a Text Message!As we journey on the Jesus-Way, we are going to unpack four different portraits of a Jesus-apprentice. A Jesus-Apprentice is a Beloved Masterpiece, a Courageous Leader, a Bridge-Builder, man our country needs bridge-builders today and an apprentice of Jesus is a front-yard missionary. Those last three, courageous leader,  bridge-builder and front-yard missionary, there's a lot of doing in those right? And the Jesus-way definitely involves an all-in doing. But beloved masterpiece, that's a bit more about being...not just what we do, but who we are. And do you understand that who we are is all wrapped up in what God is doing.You are God's beloved masterpiece! A unique creation loved passionately and persistantly by a God who is all-in on you!

Send me a Text Message!In John 3, a man comes to Jesus looking for something more. He sensed in his spirit that Jesus might show him the way to something more. But Jesus' words confused him just a bit. Jesus said, if you want something more, "You must be born again." What in the world does that mean? It means that in Jesus, God offers us something more that's so radically different that it's like being born all over again; like starting over and being delivered into a whole new world, for a whole new life. It's not just more of the same old, same old. It's not just like before only better. It's not cosmetic or marginal; you are on your way to a breathtaking,  supernatural, eternally new life. Are you looking for something more?

Send me a Text Message!Here's a principle of joy on the Jesus-Way, it's so key. If we want joy, if we want tolive our one and only life overflowing with joy, don't miss this principle. It's found in the first of Jesus' miraculous signs; turning water into wine. Here's the principle. When the wine runs dry and you come to Jesus looking for joy, we can ask for anything as long as we are willing to surrender everything.Mary told the servants, "Just do whatever he tells you to do." Are you willing to do whatever he asks? This is an issue of surrender. Am I willing to surrender control? When we ask for a miracle we honor God's hand by the size of our request, but we honor his heart by our willingness to do whatever he asks. That's how we find joy on the Jesus-Way! 

Send me a Text Message!Jon Ortberg writes, "God is the happiest being in the universe."  God also knows     sorrow, but the sorrow of God is a temporary response to a fallen world. The sorrow will be banished when the world is set right. Joy is God's basic character. Joy is God's eternal destiny. God is the happiest being in the universe." Perhaps few things are more essential for the life we long to live than the essential of joy.  An unexplainable, uncontainable, contagious and outrageously overflowing joy that doesn't require a changing of my circumstances, or a looking away from pain. It's a joy that comes in spite of the hard.So perhaps throughout this episode and after it, our simple prayer would be "God give me that joy, overflowing joy!"

Send me a Text Message!At the heart of every Jesus apprentice is a growing passion for Jesus. A growing certainty that there is none greater than Jesus. A Jesus apprentice, ultimately lives like everything is worth-less than knowing Jesus. Anything that comes between Jesus and me is a loss. No matter what it takes, I want to know Jesus. So ask yourself, "What's keeping me from following Jesus with all my heart?" As I will share in this episode, sometimes what we treasure most about ourselves is the very thing that's keeping us from the Jesus Way.So I want to invite you to come and see...

Send me a Text Message!Don't miss this one! It's a bit different because this last week was our CWOW Sunday and snowmegaddon! I know she's my wife, but Lynn has an amazing and authentic relationship with Jesus and in her conversation with Pastor Stacy, she shares about what that relationship "conversational intimacy" looks like. It's a bit different than my regular episodes, not a lot of scripture, not a lot of me, but a lot of Holy Spirit inspired story of a life lived, chasing after Jesus.Listen all the way through, the end is pretty powerful!

Send me a Text Message!As I was working on this episode, I couldn't get a song out of my head. It's a simple song that I learned in church as a kid. "This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine..." In John 1 we find that Jesus is not only the Word of God, He is the light of the world. And when His light shine the darkness cannot win. But if you can get past the grand metaphors and visions of light battling darkness, at the heart of John 1 is a messy love story. In the midst of our darkness and our mess, he relentlessly pursues you. Even as you walk the Jesus way, His heart is relentlessly pursuing you.

Send me a Text Message!  Ask yourself this question, "Whose words do I love? Who gets my ears?" I can't love Jesus' words if I'm never in His Word (the Bible). So how much of it have I read? How often did I read it this week? Do I treasure it? Do his words saturate my soul? Do I let His Words convict me? Guide me? Here's the deal, I can't be an apprentice of Jesus if I never listen to the word. In other words, the first step is as simple as, open the book. This may take a little planning. The good news is that God will meet you wherever you are at, whatever your plan. But you have to open the book. It's hard to walk in His ways, if I don't listen for His voice! 

Send me a Text Message!I don't actually say those three words often in this episode. In fact maybe I don't say them ever. But as you listen to me describe the way of Jesus that we find in John's gospel. I hope you hear those three words over and over again, "You are invited." You are invited to follow Jesus. You are invited to become more like Jesus and do more like Jesus. You are invited to be with Jesus. You are invited on this journey of the Jesus way. You are invited by me, but more importantly we are invited by Jesus!I hope you join us!

Send me a Text Message!The Gospel of John is a masterclass in the Jesus way. It is not just a record of what Jesus did, but an invitation into how Jesus lived, loved, related, discerned, and moved through the world. If the other Gospels give us the story of Jesus, John opens a door into the inner life of Jesus—so that anyone who reads it can learn to live from the same center, with the same Father, in the same Spirit, for the same purposes. For this journey, think of John as an apprenticeship manual disguised as a story. And we start with the question, "What is my most urgent hunger?"

Send me a Text Message!Today at Calvary we started a new series, a 50-Day Journey called "The Jesus Way." There's even a devotional guide that goes with it. If you aren't a part of Calvary, you can download it online at https://www.calvarycwow.org/resources -- This is the first message in the series and in-between messages, I'm going to do something in the gospels. For the next 50+ days it's all about Jesus and the Jesus way.